UK: Government launches consultation on whistleblowing regime, including possible statutory duty to operate effective whistleblowing procedure

The Government is consulting until 8 January 2027 on possible reforms to the UK whistleblowing framework, including a statutory duty for employers to implement whistleblowing policies, an extended window for interim relief applications and financial rewards for economic crime disclosures.  Views are sought on the following:

New statutory duty to have whistleblowing procedures 

• Employers would have a statutory duty to have appropriate and effective procedures for handling whistleblowing disclosures, a policy explaining these procedures to workers, and an obligation to follow-up on disclosures.
• The duty would apply to private-sector employers with at least 50 employees (with the possible exception of financial services firms already covered by FCA rules) and all public sector employers. 
• The required procedure could mirror the Irish model implementing EU law (involving secure confidential reporting channels, prescribed timings for acknowledging receipt of a disclosure and keeping the whistleblower informed, an impartial 'designated person' to manage the process and diligent follow-up) or the less prescriptive FCA rules. The duty to follow-up on disclosures would not require employers formally to investigate every disclosure, but rather to take reasonable and proportionate steps to assess whether a disclosure has merit and decide what action, if any, is appropriate. 
• The duty would potentially be enforced by a government body, with civil penalties for non-compliance, and it could be phased in to give smaller employers time to prepare.  
• An alternative option being considered is simply to expand non-statutory guidance for employers. 

Interim relief window 

• The time period for an employee dismissed for whistleblowing to claim interim relief (usually for the continuation of remuneration until the claim is determined) would be doubled from 7 to 14 days from dismissal. 

Disclosure routes

• The threshold for disclosure to regulators would be eased.  Currently, disclosures to an employer can be protected if the worker reasonably believes that the information relates to one of the listed types of wrongdoing and that disclosure is in the public interest;  disclosures to a regulator or other prescribed person require the worker also to reasonably believe the information is substantially true. The Government is asking whether this additional requirement should be removed to make it easier for workers to notify prescribed persons, given that workers may be reluctant to use internal channels for fear of retaliation. 
• The Government also seeks views on whether additional disclosure routes are required, for example to trade union representatives.
• The consultation asks whether some means of helping individuals identify the correct prescribed person (out of over 90) is necessary.  This could be an AI-assisted tool (the Government's preferred option) or a government body to receive disclosures and forward them to the relevant prescribed person.

Scope of protection

The consultation asks whether: 

• protection should be extended to cover a wider group of individuals, such as charity trustees, non-executive directors, volunteers, job applicants (outside the NHS) and certain self-employed individuals; 
• the list of wrongdoings, disclosure of which is protected, should be expanded. In particular, the Government is concerned to ensure disclosures relating to risks from AI technologies (eg risks to public safety, national security, and the security and resilience of critical infrastructure), the misuse of public funds and the misuse or abuse of authority are adequately covered by the current regime;
• more guidance is required on the requirement for a worker to reasonably believe that their disclosure is in the public interest, in order to be protected. 

SFO financial reward scheme

• The introduction of an incentivisation scheme by the Serious Fraud Office to reward economic crime whistleblowers where the information they provide leads to a corporate conviction or alternative enforcement action. 
• The reward would be percentage of the financial penalty or fine paid by the company. 
• The scheme may be supported by new criminal offences, for individuals who knowingly make false reports under the scheme and for harassment or intimidation of whistleblowers to the scheme.

Action points

• Employers may wish to respond to the consultation, particularly on the content or phasing of the proposed statutory duty, given the potential need to introduce or substantially rewrite whistleblowing policies. 
• Employers should watch out for the consultation outcome and plan to review their whistleblowing practices once proposals have been confirmed. Policies will need to be updated to reflect any new statutory duty, while the addition of new routes for disclosure and the SFO financial reward scheme will increase the importance of credible, trusted internal reporting channels, so that workers are confident to raise concerns internally first.